Safety equipment for elevator-shafts.



Fig.1

' WITNESSES;

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5, 1913.

S. L. RICHARDS.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT FOR ELEVATOR SHAPTS.

INVENTOR am; ar/La/LM COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,WASH1NOTON, n. c.

Patented Aug. 26, 1913.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFCE.

SARA L. RICHARDS, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT FOR ELEVATOR-SHAFTS.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SARA L. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States,and resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SafetyEquipment for Elevator-Shafts, of which the following is aspecification.

My present invention relates to a safety equipment for passengerelevator installations.

The object of my invention is to prevent serious accidents to people whoinadvertently pass through an elevator door carelessly left open byelevator operators after the car has passed the door. I aim to providean arrangement that is easily applicable to practically all old as wellas new passenger elevator systems, and to avoid complicated mechanismsthat might fail to work at the time when most needed.

Figure 1 is a vertical elevation, partly in section, of the passengerelevator shaft equipment. Fig. 2 is a cross section of the shaft at thelower portion, showing the plan of the life saving net.

Like numerals refer to like parts.

The organization comprises the shaft 1, a car 2 for traveling up anddown the shaft 1, chains 3 suspended from the car 2, spiral springs 1suspended from the chains 3, a life saving net 6 held horizontally nearthe bottom of the shaft 1, and far enough below the elevator for a manin the net not to be crushed by the elevator when it descends to itslowest position, pegs 7 extending from the side walls of the shaft 1,and springs 8 connecting said pegs 7 to said net 6.

The operator runs the car up and down, and leaves the door openinadvertently, as often happens after the car has passed above the door,and if a person should walk through the open door, as often happens,such person will land comparatively safely upon either the life savingnet 5 or 6, according to how high up the net 5 happens to be.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 5, 1913.

Patented A11 26,1913.

Serial No. 765,411.

My invention reduces to a minimum the loss of life and limb to peopleusing elevators.

My invention may be modified without departing from the spirit thereof.For example, another life saving net may be supported above the car 2 onposts 11 extending upward therefrom. The life saving net 10 is stretchedfrom post to post. The use of this net is obvious; for if the car 2 isbelow an open door through which a person falls, the net 10 wouldprevent his falling upon the hard and dangerous top of the car 2.

To prevent the car from falling upon any victim who has fallen into thenet 6, I provide a stop in the form of the inwardly sloping walls 13 atsuch a distance above the net 6 that the car cannot touch a man in thenet. Below the net 6 may be laid a mat 12 as a precaution against therupture of the net when a heavy body falls upon it.

My invention includes making the various parts of any material desired.The nets 5, 6 and 10 may be made of woven wire or rope. The pad 12 maybe made of a hair cushion or of a rubber bag filled with air.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of an elevator shaft, a lifesaving net at the lower end of the shaft, and a stop in the shaft at aheight higher than the thickness of a persons body above said netwhereby the elevator car in the shaft will be arrested by said stop andprevented from crushing a person lying in said net.

2. The combination of an elevator shaft, a well at the bottom of saidshaft and smaller than said shaft in cross-section, a life saving net insaid well, and a safety pad below said net.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New Yorkthis first day of May A. D. 1913.

SARA L. RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL A. KNAPP, WILLES RAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

